Topic > The function of mockery in Little Red Riding Hood

This assignment will focus on the children's script "Little Red Riding Hood" as a source of data for analysis. The assignment will examine the function of derision (as described by Grice's cooperative principle) within the story and assess whether this function is prevalent and encourages the reader's imagination towards the story. The approach to the hypothesis (derision is a common literary device used in such texts) will be carried out by analyzing primary and secondary references, newspaper articles and tutor's notes referring to the script "Little Red Riding Hood". plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Grice's theory of cooperative principles is the main linguistic approach considered when analyzing this script. This theory focuses on how the reader or listener can decode a sentence so as to understand what is implied about what was said. In order for an understanding to be created between the speaker and the listener, each maxim must be satisfied within a sentence. The four maxims stated by Grice are quality, quantity, relationship and manner. In some cases the speaker intentionally breaks one of the maxims because he wants the listener to notice something, this is known as mockery. The script and content have a traditional value that children have been reading for many years. The myth of 'Little Red Riding Hood' originates in several European countries. This tale focuses on the culture of the time of origin with the intent of teaching lessons through the story depicted. It could be argued that Little Red Riding Hood was naive and did not realize that the wolf was evil, greedy and dangerous to her. The cooperative principle of Grice's maxims does not always apply. Little Red Riding Hood is an example of disregard or violation of maxims. The violation of maxims in the story mainly serves to teach a lesson about moral values, keep oneself safe from strangers, and provide entertainment to the reader/listener. Grice's cooperative principle focuses on what the reader/student gains from what is said or written in comparison. to what is implicit, from the pragmatics of dialogue. Pragmatics is fundamentally based on the awareness of the use of language as a form of communication. For example in Little Red Riding Hood, when the wolf gives simplistic responses to the alterations of the so-called "grandmother", breaking the maxim of quantity. When Little Red Riding Hood comments on her grandmother's "big ears", the wolf replies "So much the better to hear you!". The wolf purposely mocks the maxim of quantity and hides any information from Little Red Riding Hood. He does this to create suspense and entice Little Red Riding Hood to ask more questions, as a wolf would do when antagonizing its prey. Yule (2010) argues that the use of pragmatics includes conversational structure, speech acts and the assumption of what the story is about. The violation of the maxim of quality in the story is that there is less information than required, which means that the reader does not get detailed understanding or description. The Brothers Grimm's version of Little Red Riding Hood does not include the reader's basic knowledge (violating the maxim of relevance). As a result, the reader can anticipate and guess the end of the story. The reader's anticipation once again reinforces the moral behind the story of Little Red Riding Hood. If the reader fails to anticipate the correct ending, the moral allegory of not forming a judgment about someone upon first meeting is further strengthened. Pratt (1977) argues that violation of maxims is implemented by writers to entertain readers. A writer must.